Modern day kayaks are used for sport and/or recreation. Commonly, such vessels are designed primarily for relatively short term use on a single body of water and are not well suited for frequent or lengthy portaging between bodies of water or other loading and unloading of large or multiple objects. As a result, kayak storage hatches are generally quite small with small openings providing access to the corresponding hatches. To prevent or decrease the ingress of unwanted water and other elements into the hatch and the dry goods or other items stored therein, hatch covers are secured over the hatch openings.
Conventional hatch covers are often small in size and difficult to secure and/or store during periods of non-use. To provide a water tight seal, multiple piece hatch covers are commonly utilized, for example, a tight neoprene or similar elasticized cover is stretched over the hatch cover followed by placement of a hard, rigid, plastic cover over the neoprene cover and strapped to the kayak using various connecting devices. The rigid covers add considerable weight to the kayak and rigidly extend over the corresponding hatches such that no item may extend above a top edge of the hatch.